How To Spot A Counterfeit Bible

Many people write and ask about a certain version of the Bible. With over 200 different English versions available and a new one coming out every 6 months, it’s difficult to individually separate Satan’s counterfeits from the Word of God.

We created 25 simple checks to spot one of Satan’s counterfeits.

If any Bible version fails any one of the following tests – it is one of Satan’s counterfeits. You can click on any of the check verses to display the authentic Word of God for comparison.

Note: This is by no means ALL the fraud and corruption found in the counterfeits. There are thousands of such distortions. This is a simple and quick checklist.

Check your Bible and see if it is a counterfeit.

1. Genesis 22:8
The counterfeits change “. . . My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:. . .” to distort the prophesy that God would become the Lamb. The counterfeits read as, “God will provide for Himself the lamb. . .” or “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering”. The fulfillment of Genesis 22:8 is found in John 1:29.

2. Isaiah 14:12
Most counterfeits confuse the Lord Jesus Christ with Lucifer. They replace the word “Lucifer” with “morning star, day star, star of the morning”. Morning star is a title reserved for the Lord Jesus in Revelation 22:16. This is also the only time the word “Lucifer” is found in the Word of God. In Isaiah 14:15 the counterfeits do not send Lucifer to “hell” but only to the confusing “Sheol”, or the “grave”.

3. Matthew 20:20
Many counterfeits remove the words “worshipping him” and rob worship from the Lord Jesus Christ. Some will replace “worshipping him” with “kneeling down” or “kneeling before”, but just simply “kneeling” is not worship.

4. Matthew 26:28
Many counterfeits replace the phrase “new testament” with the generic phrase “new agreement” or “new covenant”. This is an obvious attack on the written Word of God. It’s interesting, even though the counterfeits remove the phrase “new testament”, they do not title their New Testaments as “New Agreement” or “New Covenant”. Why? The counterfeiters know they could not sell their counterfeit bearing the title “New Agreement” or “New Covenant” on the cover, so like any good counterfeiter, they disguise it.

5. Mark 3:29
The counterfeits change the serious consequences of blaspheme against the Holy Ghost from “eternal damnation” to “eternal sin” or “eternal condemnation”.

6. Luke 4:4
Many counterfeits remove the last half of Luke 4:4, “. . . but by every word of God” This is another assault on the Word of God. In Luke 4:4, the Lord Jesus Christ is quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. Do the counterfeiters believe the Lord Jesus does not know what Deuteronomy 8:3 says?

8. Luke 16:23
Many counterfeits refuse to translate the Greek word “haides”. Rather than translate “haides” to the word “hell”, the counterfeit will transliterate the Greek word “haides” into the English “hades”. By this trick the counterfeit attempts to extinguish the flames of hell. Hades is not “hell”. Hell is flames, torments, weeping and wailing, complete darkness – forever. Hades is a new-age place of purification, or a fantasy place in Greek mythology. The Assyrian Hades is an abode of blessedness with silver skies called Happy Fields.

9. John 4:24
Many counterfeits change “God is a spirit” to “God is spirit”. By removing the critical article “a”, the counterfeits teach an impersonal, formless, esoteric, new-age “spirit god”.

10. John 14:16
Many counterfeits change the Holy Spirit from a loving, concerned “Comforter” to simply another “Helper, Counselor”.

11. Acts 2:47
Many counterfeits change the completed act of “saved” to the working, in progress “being saved”. With this change, the counterfeits deny the complete and finished salvation in the blood of Jesus Christ to a progressive, salvation by works. You are no longer “saved” but in the process of “being saved”. See also in 1 Corinthian 1:18 and 2 Corinthians 2:15.

12. Acts 4:27
Many counterfeits abort the Lord Jesus Christ as the Father’s “holy child” to His “holy servant”. A subtle (see Genesis 3:1) and clever denial of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The counterfeits do this again in Acts 4:30.

14. Acts 17:29
The counterfeits change “Godhead” to the new age doctrine of “Divine Nature” or “Divine Being”.

15. Romans 6:22
Many counterfeits demote Christians from the voluntary, loving “servants of God” to cruel “enslaved” or “slaves of God”. The counterfeits describe my Father as a “slave owner” and His precious children as “slaves”. Oh how contrary and wicked to the character of my loving and wonderful Heavenly Father! This is done many times in the counterfeits. It’s amazing because the first part of Romans 6:22 reads “. . . being made free from sin,. . .” and according to the counterfeits we now are slaves!

16. 1 Corinthians 1:21
Many counterfeits change “. . .the foolishness of preaching. . .” to the “foolishness of what was preached” or “foolishness of the message preached”. The deceitful counterfeits change the object of “foolishness” from the act of “preaching” to the “message” of preaching – the gospel of the Lord Jesus. There’s nothing “foolish” about the “message” of Jesus Christ – it’s the greatest and most reasonable message in the history of the universe! 1 Corinthians 1:18, shines some eye-opening light on the counterfeiters. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says “. . . the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” It makes you wonder. . . are the publishers of these counterfeits saved?

17. 1 Corinthians 6:9
The counterfeits change the word “effeminate” to “homosexual” or “male prostitutes”. This dilutes the serious warning of just the appearance or mannerism (effeminate) to the sexual act of homosexuals.

18. 2 Corinthians 2:17
The counterfeits change the word “corrupt the word of God” to “peddling (or selling) the word of God”. An apparent attempt by the counterfeiters to hide the fact they are “corrupting the word of God”. It won’t work. . . God knows what they are doing.

19. 2 Corinthians 10:5
The counterfeits change “imaginations” to “arguments” or “obstacles” or “speculations”. This change lines the counterfeit up with the new age religion, as the new age is built upon “imaging” and “imaginations”. It also removes the spiritual identification to where sin begins – in our imaginations.

20. Colossians 1:14
Many counterfeits remove the phrase “through his blood”. Salvation is only “through his blood”. Without shedding of blood is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22)

22. 1 Timothy 3:16
Many counterfeits change the crucial word “God” to the unmodified, vague pronoun “he”. This is the clearest verse in the Bible stating that Jesus Christ was “God manifest in the flesh” and the counterfeits destroy it.

23. 1 Timothy 6:10
The counterfeits add the words “kinds of”. This addition dilutes the conclusive statement, “. . .the love of money is the root of all evil” to the subjective “. . .the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”.

24. 2 Timothy 2:15
The counterfeits remove the word “study”. The counterfeits do not want you to study your Bible. You might just find out they are mutilating it.

25. Revelation 1:5
Many counterfeits change the wonderful words “washed us from our sins in his own blood,” to “loosed” or “freed” us from our sins. Revelation 1:5 is the only verse in the Bible that says you are washed in the blood – and the counterfeits destroy it. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.